JORHAT, Jan 4 - The Jorhat Medical College and Hospital (JMCH) will start PG courses on six new subjects from the ensuing academic year that begins in May. The JMCH has been conducting PG courses on seven para-clinical subjects with a seat capacity of 18 since 2014.
Speaking to reporters at the principal�s conference room, Prof Atul Chandra Baro, an eminent surgeon who took over as the third principal and chief warden (in-charge) of the JMCH on January 1, said that the New Delhi-based Medical Council of India (MCI), in a communique, has given the nod to the six new PG courses starting later this year.
Baro, who also heads the Department of Surgery, said that the MCI communique stated a formal letter of permission would be issued soon to start the PG courses in the six subjects with an intake capacity of 40.
The principal said that the total seat capacity of the PG courses would thus go up to 58. The six new subjects for the PG curriculum include Surgery, Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Anaesthesiology, Ear, Nose and Throat, and Radiology.
The seven subjects that are currently available for PG programmes are Anatomy, Physiology, Biochemistry, Microbiology, Community Medicine, Pharmacology and Forensic Medicine.
Prof Baro said that the JMCH has been asked by the MCI to start the PG curriculum of the new subjects as per procedures laid down by the apex body of medical education in the country. The JMCH will initiate the process in this regard, he added.
Paying stipends to PG students, having proper residential facilities for students and counselling for students during the admission process are some of the norms which are required to be followed, the JMCH principal pointed out.
Prof Baro said that the JMCH currently has a faculty strength of 183 and about 300 nurses. He added the recent declaration of the JMCH as the Medical Council of India Regional Centre for Medical Education Technologies for the entire eastern region of India was a �big achievement� for the college which was established in 2009. The MBBS curriculum was launched in 2010.
As an MCI Regional Centre for Medical Education Technologies, the JMCH will hold necessary training camps on medical education technologies for faculty members of 19 medical colleges in the North Eastern region and parts of West Bengal, Prof Baro said.
�The MCI declaration is expected to enhance capacity building of doctor teachers of the region in various aspects of medical education,� he observed.
JMCH superintendent Dr Saurabh Borkotoky said the JMCH was sanctioned to have 500 beds, but due to increase in numbers of patients in the past few years, the institute has now over 800 beds.
Former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh had laid the foundation stone of the JMCH in 2008. In November last year, the JMCH was in the spotlight after the State Health Department sent two high-level teams to take stock of the situation after large numbers of deaths of newborns in the Paediatrics ward were reported.
From November 1 to 6, there were 15 newborn deaths in the JMCH, out of which six deaths occurred on November 6. The toll reached 23 on November 14.
